Tuesday, January 10, 2006

First Beer

I kind of jumped the gun and opened one of the TSBs. It was not all that carbonated but it tasted like beer. It was surprisingly clear as I thought it would be more cloudy. I also chilled and opened one of the wee heavies and found that it was decent but there some stuff going on. First, it has a very fruity (banana and pear) flavor to it; meaning that I might have not aerated the beer enough. On the other had, fruity flavors are also desired in some styles. The fruity flavors are usually becuase of esters which are a byproduct of the fermentable sugars and the yeast. Second, it might be that these flavors will develop into more cheesy flavors which means I picked up some sort of infection along the way. Finally, I think it probably needs more time to mellow. Heavy brews (7% abv) usually need a lot of time to mellow. The flavors involved need time to meld together. I hope it is the third reason.

I also bought more whole leaf Willamette hops at HomeBrew Adventures (1 oz. about $1.50). The guys there let me crush different types fo leaf hops to figure out which aroma I liked the most. I am planning on dryhopping the American Pale Ale I made this last Friday. Maybe in a couple a week or two I'll transfer that brew.